San Antonio Winery in Ontario debuts Stella Rosa Black

ONTARIO -- San Antonio Winery is capping one of several recent expansions by unveiling a new flavor in its Stella Rosa line Wednesday.

"It is the most dynamic and bold of all our Stella Rosa's flavors," said Kevin Franke, a representative for the winery, which has locations in Ontario and Los Angeles.

Beginning Wednesday, about 4,000 cases of the new product, Stella Rosa Black, will be produced through the holidays. Winemakers describe it as "the boldest of all the Stella Rosas," made with blackberries and black cherries.

Stella Rosa wines are made in Asti, Italy, Franke said. They are all fairly light, fairly sweet and fruity flavors, he said.

The Riboli family began producing and selling the Stella Rosa Rosso, a red blend, about seven years ago.

In the last three years San Antonio Winery started branching out and selling the product at Costco and Stater Bros. as well as expanding the selection, Franke said.

There are currently seven Stella Rosa flavors and an additional five champagne flavors.

The Riboli family produces other selections too, including Syrahs, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnays.

"It has been phenomenally popular and we are very proud of it," Franke said, referring to the Rosso variety.

The popularity, Franke said, has helped increase San Antonio's brand recognition as well as help propel the sale of sweet wines in the market.

"I think it introduced a new generation of folks to enjoying wine because it is slightly sweet and it has a little bit of fizzle and is not overly carbonated," he said.

Last year marked the winery's 95th anniversary and in recent years the family winery has expanded its Los Angeles location, added a store and tasting room in Paso Robles where it has its vineyards.

While businesses have been hampered by the economic recession, Franke said he believes they have benefitted.

"It seems in bad economic times people drink more," he said. "Instead of going to restaurants and drinking wines they are picking up bottles of our wine and going home -- so we continue to do very well."

A historical landmark since 1965, San Antonio Winery is Los Angeles' only working winery. It was founded in 1917 by Santo Cambianica.

When it first opened there were 100 other small wineries along the Los Angeles River basin. In 1920, Prohibition was adopted and all of those wineries went out of business. San Antonio stayed opened because it made sacramental wine for the Catholic church, and still does.

In 1934, Santo called on his nephew, Stefano Riboli who lived in Italy, to join the family business. While Riboli and his wife, Maddelena, have now retired, the winery continues to be a family-owned and operated business. The couple's three children, Santo, Cathy, Steve and Santo's son, Anthony, are now at the helm. There are now 160 employees, 10 of which work out of the Ontario shop.

The Ontario location opened 35 years ago.

Riboli -- who goes by Papa Steve -- can still be found at the Los Angeles location just about every day of the week except on Tuesday mornings. That's when he comes out to the Ontario location to visit the farm animals.

On this particular Tuesday morning, sporting a black baseball cap, Papa Steve discussed the family business.